Malaysia’s Nusajaya ramps up ‘smart city’ ambitions

As part of Malaysia’s ambitions to become a smart-city hub in Southeast Asia, Telekom Malaysia and Nusajaya Tech Park have created an eco-friendly technology park equipped with advanced connectivity and smart technologies.

The Nusajaya Tech Park, being developed in Johor, Malaysia will be built in phases over nine years. Image: The Star

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Telekom Malaysia Berhad (TM) has signed a series of agreements with Nusajaya Tech Park SDN Berhad (NTPSB) to set up a host of information and communications technology (ICT) services in the Johor-based technology park as part of an ambitious plan to create a smart city hub in Southeast Asia.

The Kuala Lumpur-based telecoms firm plans to build data centres and provide cloud computing and ‘smart’ services in the technology park located in Johor Bahru state in southern Malaysia, near the border with Singapore, it said in a joint announcement with NTPSB last month.

NTPSB is a joint development of Singapore-based industrial parks developer Ascendas Group and Malaysian property giant UEM Sunrise.

To be built in phases over 9 years, the 210-hectare industrial park will open by year-end its first batch of offices, which will be equipped with high-speed telecoms facilities for businesses looking to locate in Southeast Asia, the firms said in a statement.

William Tay, chief executive officer of Ascendas Southeast Asia, told Eco-Business that NTPSB is carefully designed to incorporate environmentally sustainable features such as energy-saving lighting as well as efficient water, materials and waste management facilities.

“Eco-friendly features are blended into industrial and social spaces to conserve energy, minimise carbon footprint and reduce operating costs,” Tay noted.

The project received a Merit Award in the Master Planning Category from the Singapore Institute of Landscape Architects in 2013, as well as a certification rating of ‘Green Mark for Districts – Gold (Provisional)’ in 2014 from Singapore’s Building and Construction Authority, Tay added.

Bio-swales or natural drainways, green belts and parkways are part of the tech park’s design to add biodiversity, said international design and construction firm Aecom, which provided the design for the masterplanning and landscaping of the industrial park.

Under the new agreement, TM will become the tech park’s preferred telecoms service provider, construct the Nusajaya Data Centre (NJDC), a purpose-built data centre which will connect multiple telecoms carriers, and help develop ‘smart services’ such as safety and security technology and services for the tech park.

Tan Sri Zamzamzairani Mohd Isa, group chief executive officer of Telekom Malaysia, commented in a statement: “The establishment of the NJDC and the collaboration on smart services is a step forward in realising the Nusajaya Smart City aspiration. Coupled with TM’s extensive high-speed converged telecommunication infrastructure, we are confident that this will strengthen Malaysia’s position globally.”

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